A Short History of Quintin Kynaston School (Page 30)
Emergency Evacuation (1986-1987)
Food Technician Beryl Rushbrooke was furious when she arrived at the start of the autumn term in 1986. A cupboard which she had left spotless was covered in a thick layer of dust.
Asbestos was causing much public concern at the time. Widely used in the past, experts now agreed that even minute amounts of airborne blue asbestos particles were a serious health hazard. Asbestos used in the 1956 building was quite safe unless disturbed but, as a precaution, specialist contractors had been employed to replace the boiler house insulation during the summer holidays.
Gaps round pipes running through the food cupboard had not been properly sealed allowing asbestos to leak into the food store and possibly further afield. The building was sealed and students sent home. A room at Swiss Cottage Library witnessed a fraught meeting between officials and staff. For three weeks students collected work from a pick-up point at a nearby school. Meanwhile, dispossessed teachers struggled to prepare and deliver work, collect and mark it.
Decontamination would take months so temporary accommodation was found. Each morning QK students boarded coaches in Marlborough Hill for the trip to a disused school in Gifford Street, N1 returning in the afternoon. An emergency timetable was put together for the shortened teaching day and the absence of laboratories, workshops and gymnasium space. And barely half QK's students could be accommodated at any one time.
As Christmas 1986 approached, prefabricated huts were erected in a playground at Marlborough Hill, looking like a prisoner of war camp without the barbed wire. Now all the students could be taught at the same time. Years 7-9 were bussed daily to Gifford Street while Years 10-13 occupied the huts. But some teachers, such as the sole music specialist, were needed at both sites. They had to catch a minibus shuttle back and forth. Usually staff managed to be in front of the right class at the right time! Meanwhile, each room at QK was checked for asbestos, decontaminated and declared safe. Eventually, desperately needed science laboratories and a gymnasium were brought into use and eventually the daily excursion to Islington came to an end.
Twelve months into the disruption, Sheila Madgwick took up her appointment as Headteacher and joined the patrols of the 'hut village'. It wasn't until December 1987 that the huts went and the school could begin the process of recovery. Not surprisingly, fewer students had joined the school and a number transferred to other schools. For many years, the consequences of lost time and 15 months of woefully inadequate facilities showed up in examination results and low recruitment of students.